Tip of the Spear
"Tip of the Spear" is the sixteenth and final episode of the ninth season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the one-hundred and thirty-first episode of the series overall. It premiered on March 31, 2019. Plot Michonne addresses Rick with concerns over his new leadership direction. Daryl's military rushes to Carol's aid against Beta. Alpha allows Negan into her camp. Synopsis Carol is fighting the Whisperers, telling Aaron to hold on. Beta is about to kill Aaron, but Carol deflects his blades and partially slices his mask. However, a roamer sneaks up on her and she is forced to kill it. She stabs a Whisperer and pulls his mask off, before kicking him towards some walkers, which devour him. Beta tackles her to the ground, but just as he is about to kill her, Daryl appears with reinforcements. Beta escapes in the heat of the gunfire as the remaining Whisperers are killed. At the insistence of Daryl, Carol rushes to Aaron and heads out to the Hilltop on horseback. Carol tells them to hunt Beta down; however, when she is gone, Daryl tells the militia to move out. Michonne and Rick are arguing in their house. Michonne is telling Rick to take down the "SILENCE THE WHISPERS" signs, to no avail. Rick says the people of the communities need to direct their anger towards someone, and it can't be him. He reveals to Michonne of the plan to hurt Lydia and how he was attacked. When asked, he says he is manipulating the residents for their own good. Michonne says he sounds like Negan, and Rick pauses for a moment, before telling her that there's something she should know. Negan is engaging in some "friendly" conversation with Alpha, making crude jokes. After a while, she asks how he survived so long. He tells her he was with another group, but they "booted him out". She asks him if he's looking for revenge on these people. He says it's not the kind of thing he'd ask for on a first date. As he leans in, Alpha asks him to stop, but he continues making sexual remarks, leading to Alpha punching him in the face, prompting Negan to apologize, saying "I can tell when I crossed a line". Beta suddenly appears and, having witnessed Alpha strike Negan, he offers to kill Negan on the spot. Alpha refuses the offer, and Negan remarks that Beta is "really tall". Beta wordlessly grabs Negan by the throat with one hand, lifts him into the air, and pins him against a tree. He tells them about his encounter with Carol, Aaron, and the militia. Negan admits he lied, saying "When I'm scared out of my fucking mind and pissing my pants in the most manliest way possible, I will lie through my fucking teeth". Alpha orders him to explain himself. He doesn't, saying Beta is scary, and to just kill him if that's what they're going to do. Alpha asks him if he's scared, to which he replies "no". He says he lived longer than he expected to live. When Alpha asks him why he came, Negan says he has a "hell of a lot to offer" her. Siddiq is watching out for Carol and Aaron. Rick approaches, asking Siddiq to tell him if he sees anything. He tells Rick he'll be "the first to know". Elsewhere, Carol is riding back with Aaron, begging him to hang on. At the Hilltop, Henry awakes to find Lydia watching him. She tells him she wouldn't be there without him. Maggie and Enid are tending to a horse. Maggie tells her that she doesn't like being kept in the dark, saying she wants word from Alexandria. They suddenly hear someone yelling to "OPEN THE GATE!", and Carol soon rushes in with Aaron. She yells at them to get Enid, telling them Aaron's not breathing. Elsewhere, Daryl puts down a zombified Cyndie. Then, crossing back over the border, Daryl tells the militia to hurry, saying that they are in danger. He says "we engaged with the enemy on enemy territory. This is an act of war". Beta doesn't approve of Negan joining the Whisperers and asserts that he should be killed for trying to deceive Alpha. Beta also doesn't believe Negan understands their ways, but Negan retorts that he wants to learn their ways and wonders how the Whisperers recruit people with so little trust. This angers Beta, who thinks Negan is mocking him. He is about to punch Negan, but Alpha stops him and asks if Beta is finally challenging her after all the time he's spent serving her loyally. Beta denies this, falling to his knees and begging forgiveness. Alpha forgives him and tells him to leave. Negan is impressed and similarly kneels and submits to Alpha's will. She accepts him and tells him to stand, though he throws in another crude joke before doing so. He immediately apologizes, however. Alpha doubts Negan will survive living with the Whisperers. Negan asks if that means he's in, but Alpha explains that it means he can stay with them, as long as he follows the rules, but for how long is up to him. Negan hands her his knife and asks if he will be receiving a skin suit, but Alpha says he has to earn it. Negan starts by helping out with the chores in the camp. He tries to communicate with the other Whisperers but they ignore him, much to his annoyance. He later kills a boar when accompanying some Whisperers on a hunt and loudly celebrates. He is scolded by Alpha for this at dinner, so he apologizes and explains that he was just excited, as it was his first time shooting a boar with a bow and arrow. He slowly gets accustomed to the Whisperer way of life as another Whisperer instructs him how to behave around zombies. He later walks by two Whisperers skinning a roamer, but is told to move along. While carrying firewood, he is attacked by a roamer. He yells for help, but a Whisperer tells him that he will survive, if he is strong. Continuing to struggle with the roamer, Negan protests that he doesn't even have a weapon, when he is handed his knife back by Alpha, who deems that he's "earned it". He kills the roamer and then another one that arrived in the meantime. He brings them both to the camp to be processed, impressing some of the Whisperers while Beta scoffs, clearly unimpressed. At dinner, Alpha asks him to join her, and Negan happily accepts as Beta looks at them with jealousy. Later, he searches for a place to sleep. He tries to get a spot near Alpha, but Beta sends him away, much to his annoyance. As he is walking through the camp, he suddenly hears someone yelling in distress. He rushes to the source of the cries and is shocked to find two male Whisperers attempting to rape a female Whisperer. He throws them off her and starts beating one of them viciously when he is cracked over the head by Beta. Beta claims that Negan interfered with the lives of the two attempted rapists and denied the woman the right to defend herself and prove that she's strong. Negan is outraged to hear this. Alpha says that, while she understands Negan's position, it is simply not their way, causing Negan to snap by exclaiming that maybe it should be. Beta tells Alpha that she cannot allow the insult to go unpunished, and Alpha agrees, making Negan sleep far outside the camp with no protection. Alpha goes to visit Negan in the middle of the night. She acknowledges that he has proven himself over the last few days and has even earned her respect and trust, yet she fears he doesn't belong with them. Negan angrily states that the Whisperers perhaps need him, as if they allow such vile crimes as rape to go unpunished, they might as well be roamers. Alpha argues that the woman was weak and that if you protect the weak, they never become strong. Negan retorts that protecting the weak is the whole basis of civilization and that, in not doing so, the Whisperers are no better than animals. Alpha doubles down by proclaiming that they are animals and that civilization is a myth. She sees the incidents such as the one that happened at the camp a part of human nature. Negan disagrees, as he thinks that if someone gets pleasure from someone else's pain, that person is a monster and deserves to be put down. He acknowledges he had committed unspeakable crimes, but he always did it for the greater good. Alpha says that in nature only the strong survive and that if a woman isn't strong enough to fend off the rapists physically, she should find the strength to overcome it emotionally, starting to choke back tears as she remember her daughter. She is about to leave, but Negan orders her to get back and talk to him. Negan assures her that he does not want to be "Alpha", and tells her that, in time, he could protect her alongside Beta. Alpha protests that Beta doesn't protect her, but Negan asserts that he does and that she needs him to, as she wouldn't last long as Alpha without Beta preventing the other Whisperers from assaulting her. Negan calls her out for being a hypocrite. Alpha starts to cry, remembering how she let her daughter be raped thinking that it would make her strong and reveals that she misses her. Alpha mournfully states that she isn't strong and continues to cry. Negan tries to comfort her by telling her about losing someone close to him and ceasing to feel emotions after the fact, claiming this to be his strength. He goes on to describe how he would do anything to survive, but that he is broken inside and not really living. He claims Alpha and the Whisperers are playing pretend by suppressing their emotions and informs Alpha that she is not winning in this game. Alpha trustingly tells Negan that he may indeed belong with the Whisperers, and he agrees, when he suddenly slits Alpha's throat and informs her that he doesn't want to be there. After cutting off Alpha's head, he holds it up and says: "Wait until Rick gets a look at you...". Other Cast Co-Stars To be added. Uncredited To be added. Deaths * Cyndie (Zombified) * Alpha (Alive) Trivia * Last appearance of Cyndie. (Zombified) * Last appearance of Alpha. (Alive) * This episode was adapted from Issue 155 and Issue 156 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead. Category:Episodes Category:TV Series Category:TV Episodes Category:Season 9 (TV Series) Category:Season Finales